inhale, kevin day.

iii. cigarette daydreams

chapter three
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There was no need for sunglasses when the sky had been an endless darkness when they'd touched down in Arizona, but no one questioned Maeve as she strode up to them twenty minutes later with them on and a fresh bag of Fritos in hand.

She didn't think Coach Hernandez would be the one to pick them up from the airport when he had a game to instruct that night, but not a second later they were approached by the man. And funnily enough, he donned sunglasses also, except his had already been pushed atop an extremely short buzzcut by the time he reached them.

"Still putting junk in your body, I see." He quipped and Maeve had to pause before she was able to breathe a proper response to that.

"Old habits die hard." She supplied.

"Eh, you forgot to add the chile y limón, after all, that's the only way to enjoy those." He chuckled as she revealed her eyes, just to roll them at him. "Haven't changed a bit, bring it in, kiddo."

They shared an awkward hug before Hernandez moved on to shaking Wymack's hand, then Kevin's, and lastly, gave Andrew a nod when he accepted that he wouldn't be taking his hand. He turned to Maeve once more,"So business then?"

Her eyes trailed over to Kevin, who was already looking at her. She nodded,"You really think this kid's the right fit?"

"Well, I managed to convince you you were better suited as a backliner, so why don't you meet him and then try and tell me I'm wrong again, see how that goes over?" He joked, already bringing up fragments of her past.

Wymack spoke before she could. "We gonna get to catch the game?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, don't worry, we got time." Hernandez smiled,"Just one thing... I'd suggest at least you three cramming into my office and watching from there. Don't want to scare him off before you get the chance to speak with him."

"Yeah." Andrew smirked,"Because Maeve isn't the one we should be worried about here."

Her fists instinctively balled at her sides and Hernandez was quick to call a time out,"What I mean is she isn't the first past student of mine to come back for a game, it's not unusual and he won't suspect anything. Besides, no one ever said she had to be warm and fuzzy. Neither is he, or else what use would he be to you all, right?"

"Exactly." Wymack said,"Now I say we start getting a move on."

They agreed and while Kevin stuck with the two coaches, Maeve remained fixated on Andrew,"Small townies, always so sensitive..."

"Fuck you." She spat.

The car ride was longer than any of them would've liked, especially when Hernandez tried to quiz her on school and her current life. Maeve had never wanted to jump through a window more. Luckily, Wymack caught on due to her sudden interest in everything Exy as she diverted all his questions and took over talking as Kevin resumed his ominous staring and Andrew got straight to making her life a further hell now that he'd been on solid ground long enough to forget his fear of heights.

It was hard to ignore and her filter finally broke when they arrived at the school. "I can't believe I came along for this." She took two steps back and hit a hard wall,"No offense, Hernandez."

"None taken." The man shrugged,"I was actually surprised to hear Wymack planned to bring you along, more so to see you made the trip and that you haven't punched this guy yet."

He'd pointed at Andrew, which in turn made her scan for Kevin and promptly realize there'd been no wall, they were still by the car, and it was Kevin standing directly at her back. She moved away,"If it makes anyone feel any better, I have... in my head, at least twice. Broke his nose, even."